South Florida's hotel sector sees modest uptick in occupancy, room rates in February in some areas

B Ocean Resort, Fort Lauderdale

B Ocean Resort Fort Lauderdale was among the hotels along the Fort Lauderdale beach corridor to enjoy an occupancy boost in February when a beach volleyball tournament came to town.

B Ocean Resort Fort Lauderdale was among the hotels along the Fort Lauderdale beach corridor to enjoy an occupancy boost in February when a beach volleyball tournament came to town. (B Ocean Resort, Fort Lauderdale)

South Florida’s hotel industry saw some improvements in room rates and occupancy in February from a year ago, according to a report Tuesday from an industry data firm.

In Palm Beach County, hotels were 87.5 percent full last month versus 85.7 percent in February 2016 while the average daily room rate rose slightly to $243.40 from $242.98 last year, according to STR, a Tennessee-based industry tracker.

At 87.5 percent, Palm Beach County’s occupancy rate was the highest in the state, according to Discover The Palm Beaches, the county’s official tourism marketer.

Rich Basen, Discover’s senior vice president of marketing and leisure sales, said the destination is seeing significant growth in the groups and meetings sector, boosted largely by its new convention center hotel, Hilton West Palm Beach, which opened in January 2016.

“We’re now bringing in conventions with more than a thousand room nights, and that has been driving more demand,” Basen said, adding that the hotel’s draw is its status as the only one in South Florida that’s physically connected to a convention center.

In Broward County, hotel occupancy was flat at 87.1 percent last month, compared with February 2016, and the average daily rate declined to $183.93 from $187.01.

In Miami-Dade County hotel occupancy slipped to 83.5 percent, from 84 percent a year ago. The Greater Miami area had ADR of $231.98, compared with $249.12 last year.

In Broward and Miami-Dade, revenue per available room also slipped in February, but rose slightly in Palm Beach.

February’s results are a slight improvement from January, when all three counties experienced declines in occupancy, average daily rates and revenue per room for a second month in a row.

In February 2016, South Florida hotels weren’t as crowded due to a mild winter and currency troubles in key markets like Canada kept some snowbirds away.

An influx of new hotel rooms across the region in recent years has also created pressure on occupancy and room rates as overall supply outpaces consumer demand.

Still, South Florida’s hotel industry is still robust despite those headwinds as visitation records continue to be broken.

In 2016, both Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties welcomed a record number of tourists -- 7.35 million and 15.8 million visitors -- respectively. Broward was also expected to reach or top a record 16 million visitors last year, from 15.4 million in 2015. A final tally however isn’t expected until May.

In Palm Beach County, visitor spending in 2016 grew 1 percent to $4.6 billion from 2015, Discover The Palm Beaches, the county’s official tourism marketer announced Tuesday.

“As the tourism marketing landscape continues to change, we’ve worked to evolve and claim an even greater market share,” said Basen. “The increase in the number of visitors here proves our strategies are paying off, which, in turn, continues to spur more economic growth for Palm Beach County.”

The county’s growth in visitor spending came in spite of a 12 percent dip in spending by Canadians due to currency challenges, the agency said. The Canadian decline, however, was partially offset by increases in spending from domestic and Florida visitors of 2 percent and 5 percent respectively.

Looking ahead to March’s performance overall, the month is currently on pace to reach a record 89 percent occupancy, which was last set in 2005, the agency noted.

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